


Camper

by Springkink (Zebra)



Category: Foreigner Series - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: Beta Wanted, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-12
Updated: 2012-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-31 01:29:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/338398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Springkink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The matter in the tent before Mogari-nai from a different perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Camper

**Author's Note:**

> The dialog was taken straight from Inheritor.

Banichi left the tent.

He would rib her without mercy tomorrow, but it was still safer this way.

A tent was much more exposed than a room, more difficult to defend with it being accessible from all sides. Splitting up was the most sensible solution. It was Banichi who should have suggested it, but he had avoided the topic ever since they knew they'd be camping, forcing her to finally bring it up. The whole situation was an endless source of amusement to him. And now he might have scared Bren off again. 

There was silence in the tent.

“So what else is there to ask?”

She didn't know what he expected, appearing to be interested in more physical interaction with her, but withdrawing when offered the chance for such. Maybe it was mixed signals between their species, maybe she was sending something too foreign to him, or wasn't sending certain signals he expected. That was one of the things so interesting about him, but frustrating at times.

He had reacted quite panicked yesterday and appeared to ponder the whole affair today, but they had wanted to keep him in the dark about the scale and true purpose of the operation a bit longer.

He had said it himself, he needed a vacation. All this worrying about everybody wasn't good for him. But her plan to distract him and allow him the illusion of a holiday for a little bit longer had backfired. Now he not only worried about the stability of the aishidat but also about her. It was better to drop the while issue for now, so he had at least some peace of mind.

“We should rest.”

“Jago,“ he said, sounding panicked again. 

It wouldn't do for him to lay awake the whole night brooding.

“One isn't obliged, nadi-ji. Banichi has a vile sense of humor.”

“Jago–“

He reached for her then. It was too dark for her to see, but she felt his hand on her knee. She had offered him a way out, he wasn't taking it. Instead he had actively created a connection. She reciprocated in kind, his hand slightly colder than hers. She gently stroked his hand, in the dark one couldn't see the difference, it was like any ateva's, just smaller.

“Jago,” he said for a felicitous third time.

The paidhi-aiji, master of words, seemed to lack them now. She would be only too happy to clear this matter from his mind.

“I'm really not sure this is a good idea.”

She had misread him again. He withdrew his hand. But only to hold hers. She couldn't figure him out.

If ateva-human interaction had been filled with these contradictory signals back after the landing, it was no wonder the War of Landing broke out. The misunderstandings had to have been insurmountable. No wonder the paidhiin had to be trained for their job since their childhood.

“Jago,” he said once again.

She didn't know how to react either, what could she say?

“Jago-ji. I'm concerned.”

At least this was familiar ground, Bren always worried. He didn't always do the right thing or what was expected of him, but nobody could ever accuse him of not trying to do his job as best as he could.

She tried to encourage him, curling her fingers about his hand.

“Propriety. Banichi. The dowager. I want you, but–“

That at at least was a clear straight signal. He was interested in her, just worried, as usual, about their safey, wanting to know what went on around them, trying to do right by everyone. They were reasonably safe in the present company, the worst threat Banichi posed lay in curious questions. She had to get his mind on another track.

“She is outside your man'chi. Not far. But outside. And it's safer, tonight, if you're here and Banichi is with Jase, if anything untoward should happen.”

“What might happen?”

“Anything. Anything might happen. Whatever pleases you. I would be inclined to please both of us.”

She leaned towards him.

“Then should we–“

If he didn't stop worrying, they'd never get anywhere.

“We should be careful of the guns,” she said, and suited action to words, knowing which fastenings were where.

He stopped her once again.

“Is this a good idea? Jago-ji, if you do that, we may both scandalize the company.”

“Not this company,” she said. Doing it in Lord Tatiseigi's apartment would have been a bad idea, but while Ilisidi would be many things, scandalized wouldn't be among them.

He let her proceed then, so she took the opening offered and resumed her work on his jacket, opening it fastening by fastening. And then she had to divide her attention between removing Bren's jacket and Bren's attempt to remove her own jacket. There were things in her jacket which could remove a finger in moments. It wouldn't do for the paidhi to come without his whole set of fingers out of the night. But she didn't have to intervene, his fingers kept clear of potential traps and things became easier with their jackets off.

Touching became more immediate. It was a slow exploration, his hands traveling over her, just as hers traveled over him. She memorized whenever he reacted to her touch and showed him when he came close to her sensitive spots.

Soon it wasn't enough to touch him through his shirt, she wanted more, fingers slipping underneath the cloth, tugging the shirt upward and off of him.

Which jogged Bren into action, hastily he got her shirt off, it landed carelessly beneath them. As eager as she was to explore where this was going, their clothes couldn't look the part. Ilisidi might take it with humor. Yet they didn't know what awaited them at Mogari-nai, it wouldn't do for the paidhi to look disheveled. 

“We have to look presentable,” she warned, where upon he followed her lead, divesting himself of his remaining clothes, folding them somewhat carefully. With all of their clothing finally gone, there was nothing holding them back.

His hands followed no discernible path on her body, just moving slowly wherever Bren's mind led them. She wished she could see him, see his expression, his every emotion reflected in his eyes. See his reaction as her hands moved lightly across his back, she remembered the last time her hands had been on his naked back.

It had been the beginning of this, another case of mixed signals. She had thought he invited her touch, hadn't complained in the beginning, but then he had stopped her. She had been sure, she had overstepped her bounds, but he had only offered her a curious choice, leaving out just forgetting the whole thing as a felicitous third choice. It had come unexpected, she had been unsure how to react, she had regretted her actions as they'd made him uneasy around her. Their talk at Taiben had cleared the air somewhat, still the curiosity remained. And he had confessed an attraction towards her.

She had fantasized about him ever since she had gotten to spend some time with him, when she'd been assigned to escort duty from time to time while he still lived in that small garden apartment. It had been only a fantasy then, but now it was reality. A very pleasant reality so far.

The skin under her fingers was smooth, Bren's breathe hitched from time to time.

There was something she had seen in Mospheiran media, which invariably made its way across the straight and got distributed illegally. She had tried it with some like-minded atevi during her infrequent one-candle nights.

Then something spooked him, his hands leaving her body. They couldn't stop now, they had gotten so far. So she kissed him, according to Mospheiran media it should work as a distraction.

He tasted strange. The kiss felt different than her previous experiences, it was neither better or worse, just foreign. His lips moved on hers, it was certainly a curious sensation. She could understand now why it worked as a distraction.

Maybe if she had kissed him back in the Atageini apartment, before the lilies had been shot, everything would be different now between them.

But there was no use dwelling on the unchanging past, it was the present shaping the future. The immediate future promising pleasure. 

Bren circled her breasts with his hands, exciting her nipples with his touch, while she mapped out his ribcage, following each bone arch from his spine to the breastbone. She could feel his ribcage expanding with each breath he drew, keeping her hand over his heart for a moment, Its rhythm was unlike anything she'd ever felt from another ateva's heart. He kissed her along the neck then, another curious sensation. When he reached the junction of her neck and shoulder, he surprised her by biting her lightly. Her fingers slipped on his ribcage, poking him. He made a sound of protest. And curled his arm protectively about his ribs. She thought he might stop then, but he continued his exploration after a short moment, his hands making a slow path across her stomach. His hands on her body felt good, his body against hers felt good. 

Security and their charge might be scandalous, yet she didn't regret a thing. It was usually simply not done, not only because it had led to a confusion of man'chi from time to time, which wouldn't be a problem in this case. Bren felt no man'chi. He wasn't an unfeeling monster as some atevi thought about humans. His emotions were just as strong as any ateva's, they were just different. And he had already shown that the hierarchy of man'chi meant very little to him when he had to react on instinct, not having time to think about it. He was liable to behave as a lunatic in such situations, which he had demonstrated quite well when they had intended to leave Banichi behind during their flight from Malguri.

Banichi vanished from her mind when her fingers reached Bren's penis.

It was stiff. Bren held his breath as she lightly moved her fingers along its length.

The rare reports and rumors she had managed to gather had been correct. There was a difference, between an ateva's and a human's penis. The shape was fairly similar and if she had seen it in daylight, it would probably look very much like every other erect penis she'd seen, although Bren's would be as light as he was. Its base was covered with hair, she knew if she could see it, it would be as fair as the rest of Bren's hair.

But there was one even bigger difference, while an ateva's penis certainly grew stiff and erect, too, it didn't grow in size or at least not so much.

Bren's penis was now almost the same size as an average ateva's would be.

This almost size indifference didn't overcome their general size difference.

As she encircled his penis with her hand, Bren gasped and jerked forward, poking her in the stomach. After some shuffling about, involving sorting out where to put their knees, they were in a much more reasonable position. He was breathing as hard as she was, just rubbing his hands up and down her arms, letting her guide his penis to her. He slipped in easily enough, stretching her pleasantly. For a moment they stayed unmoving, she knew that both, humans and atevi, did thrust during sexual intercourse, maybe Bren didn't know they were similar in that respect. She moved experimentally, just as he did, their movements uncoordinated and at cross-purposes again. They slipped apart.

He gave a frustrated sigh.

Who could have known this would be so difficult? Their sexual organs were similar, it should have worked easily enough. But just as everything between humans and atevi this seemed to require careful negotiations to work.

She should have expected nothing else, and finally gave in and laughed at the whole situation.

“We have to practice this in daylight. This is frustrating.”

She could agree to that, seeing what the other was doing should help, and she'd get to see his hair, unfettered by its ribbons, gleaming in the sunlight. When she reached to draw him back to her, she misjudged the distance, poking him in the ribs once more. Their whole adventure clearly wasn't favored by baji and naji.

With the next thunder boom he moved back towards her. They came easily together again, she let him set the pace. It was exciting, them moving together, finding at least somewhat common ground. But there was something missing, something keeping her from her release. 

She moved slightly. Now he was hitting the right spot, the pleasure built in her finally crescending.

For a moment nothing but herself and her pleasure and Bren shivering oddly against her existed.

Then the rest of reality slowly returned, she held Bren against her, his body almost as warm as hers, his heart beating strong in that odd rhythm of his.

Laying there, feeling him embrace her, she was happy that he hadn't taken the out she'd offered him earlier, happy that she hadn't taken the out he had offered her all those months ago in Shejidan.

It hadn't been perfect. As Bren had said, they'd have to practice. She certainly looked forward to it.

☙End❧

* * *


End file.
